Short Courses
18 - 23 May, 2025
El Conquistador Tucson, A Hilton Resort
Tucson, Arizona USA
Short Courses
Short courses cover a broad range of topic areas at a variety of educational levels (introductory to advanced) and are taught by highly-regarded industry experts. They are an excellent opportunity to learn about new products, cutting-edge technology and vital information at the forefront of your field. They are designed to increase your knowledge of a specific subject while offering you the experience of knowledgeable teachers.
Certificates of Attendance are available for those who register and attend a course. To request a certificate after the course concludes, send an email to cstech@optica.org with your name, course name, conference name and year.
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SC400 - Optical Thickness Monitoring and Enhanced Production Strategies for Optical Coatings
Sunday, 18 May
Instructor: Florian Carstens, LZH Hannover
Short Course Description:
Precise thickness monitoring concepts are of key importance for the successful manufacturing of optical coatings, not only, but especially in case of highly complex thin film designs. This course provides an overview of the different thickness monitoring approaches available today, comprising the basic principles as well as examples of technical implementations. Besides some aspects of conventional non-optical and single-wavelength monitoring solutions, particular focus is given to modern optical monitors covering a broad spectral range. The course gives background knowledge on different monitoring strategies including examples of thickness determination algorithms applied in recent developments. The advantages of direct monitoring concepts will be discussed and illustrated by practical examples. Regarding technical aspects, the essential parts of thickness monitoring systems will be presented comparing different alternative solutions. This comprises typical light sources, optical components, and spectrometers for different wavelength ranges from the UV to the NIR. In addition, adapted monitoring configurations and error handling options as well as hybrid monitoring strategies based on the application of more than one thickness determination approach will be discussed. Also, some aspects of the process control interfaces of the monitoring systems and the deposition plants will be addressed. Furthermore, detailed information on the integration of thickness monitors in flexible manufacturing concepts will be given. In these adaptive manufacturing environments, tailored computational manufacturing tools are combined with monitor specific on-line re-calculation and design re-optimization modules. Examples will be presented to demonstrate resulting advantages as highest precision and flexibility, increased economic efficiency, and shortest product development times. Short Course Benefits:
This course should enable participants to:
- Compare and evaluate different thickness monitoring concepts with regard to their application
- Discuss basic principles and technical implementations of recent developments in optical thickness monitoring
- Identify sources of error and optimize the process control stability on basis of available in situ data
- Determine the specific advantages of adapted computational manufacturing, on-line re-calculation and on-line design re-optimization tools
This course is intended for anyone who is interested in a detailed overview of the current status of optical thickness monitoring systems for the deposition of optical coatings and the advantages of adaptive manufacturing concepts. It addresses technologists, scientists and students with a background in optical thin films and deposition processes for optical coatings.
Instructor Biography:
Florian Carstens is physicist and head of the Smart Optical Devices Group in the Optical Components Department at Laser Zentrum Hannover, Germany. He has been working in the field of optical thin films for more than 12 years with focus on IAD and IBS deposition processes, in situ process diagnostics, ex situ optic characterization, as well as advanced process control and automation.
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SC482 - Dispersive Optics: Design, Production and Applications
Sunday, 18 May
Instructor: Volodymyr Pervak , Ludwig Maximilians University and Ultrafast Innovations
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Volodymyr Pervak received his PhD in Physics at the Max-Planck-Institute of Quantum Optics, Germany. Currently, he is leading his team in the research group of Ferenc Krausz, 2023 Nobel Prize Winner in Physics, at the Max-Planck Institute of Quantum Optics and Ludwig Maximilians University, both in Munich. He has more than 250 technical and scientific publications. His research interests include interference coatings, ultrafast sources and nonlinear optics.
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SC504 - Holistic Approach to Optical Coatings and Filters
Sunday, 18 May
Instructor: Ludvik Martinu, École Polytechnique de Montréal
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SC505 - New Spectrophotometric Tools for the Optical Characterization of High-Performance Interference Filters
Sunday, 18 May
Instructor: Michel Lequime, Institute Fresnel
Short Course Description:
Since the end of the 1990s, the simultaneous availability of powerful optical filter design software and reliable thin-film deposition techniques using energetic processes such as ion beam assistance, ion beam sputtering or magnetron sputtering have made possible the manufacture of high-performance optical interference coatings comprising a great number of layers, from one hundred up to a few thousand. For highly demanding applications such as observation of the Earth from space, wavelength multiplexing of high data rate optical telecommunications channels, study of the organization of living matter at the cellular scale, or interferometric detection of gravitational waves, it is necessary to confirm by very accurate measurements the theoretical figures provided by the design, especially for some key filter parameters like optical density in the blocking regions (OD 0 to OD 12), steepness of band edges (less than 0.5%), or wavelength and angle resolved scattering (ARS down to 10-8 sr-1). The objective of this course is first to recall some fundamentals on the detection of optical signals, and second to use these basics to explain the structure and the performances of spectrophotometric apparatus developed in the three following goals • Ultra-wide range measurement of the spectral transmittance of optical interference filters (transmittance level as low as 10-13) • Angle and wavelength resolved measurement of the light scattered by optical components (incoherent and coherent schemes) • Detection of localized defects at the surface of a plane optical window using spatially and angularly resolved detection of scattered light Short Course Benefits:
The objective of this course is first to recall some fundamentals on the detection of optical signals, and second to use these basics to explain the structure and the performances of spectrophotometric apparatus developed in the three following goals
- Ultra-wide range measurement of the spectral transmittance of optical interference filters (transmittance level as low as 10-13)
- Angle and wavelength resolved measurement of the light scattered by optical components (incoherent and coherent schemes)
- Detection of localized defects at the surface of a plane optical window using spatially and angularly resolved detection of scattered light
This course is of use for anyone who are interested in the development of high-level spectrophotometric instrumentation. It is addressed to junior and senior scientists as well as to engineer and science students of higher terms.
Instructor Biography:
Michel Lequime is Eméritus Professor at Centrale Marseille, a French engineer high school and senior scientist in the Concept team of Institut Fresnel. Currently, his research interests concern the comprehensive characterization of optical components through spatially and angularly resolved light scattering. He is credited with 26 patents and more than 300 publications and presentations in the areas of non-linear optics, space optics, fiber optic sensors, scattering phenomena and optical interference coatings. He is a member of Optica and SPIE, and has served as Secretary of the Board of the French Optical Society (SFO, 2009-13).
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SC535 - Technology Overview and Current Trends in ION Beam Sputtering Optical Coatings
Sunday, 18 May
Instructor: Kai Starke, Cutting Edge Coatings
Short Course Description:
Ion beam sputtering (IBS) is widely known as the technology to produce functional coatings that has highest reachable optical performance specifications. IBS is the reference for lowest optical losses i.e. losses in absorptance and scattering limiting the functionality of coatings in laser applications. The cleanliness and cosmetic appearance of IBS coatings in terms of particle contamination are unsurpassed and open up ways of new applications in high-level research and industry. In combination with advanced optical monitoring techniques, IBS is capable of producing most complex thin-film filters automatically, unmanned and without necessary re-optimization. Being a niche deposition technology over decades for high-end optics having small geometric dimensions, ion beam sputtering showed relatively small areas of uniform thickness distribution. The long-lasting disadvantage has been resolved recently by a new generation of large box coaters. This groundbreaking development of IBS towards large objects gives way to a wide application field where up to now only evaporation systems were capable of. Examples of ion beam sputtered coatings on optics up to meter-scale will be presented in this short course. Besides activities on scalability of ion beam sputtering processes, new trends in layer stacks with nanometer and sub-nanometer thicknesses will be illustrated. These so-called quantum nanolaminates benefit from physical light-matter interaction beyond interference effects described in classical matrix formalism and are breaking up the linkage between material band-gap and refractive index. Because of separation of process components, ion beam sputtering is well suited to lift the potential of this innovative technique. Short Course Benefits:
- Describe the fundamental process steps to form dielectric thin films by ion beam sputtering
- Explain how process parameters influence the quality characteristics with regard to laser applications
- Demonstrate size-scaling and current technological limitations
- Summarize the achievements on quantum nanolaminates and discuss determine the position of this novel technique in the bunch of PVD processes
Instructor Biography:
Kai Starke, born 1971, is a researcher and entrepreneur residing in Hanover, Germany. After studying physics in Bielefeld and Hannover, he started his research work in IBS optical coatings in the late 1990s. Working one decade at Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. as researcher and group leader, he founded Cutting Edge Coatings GmbH as a spin-off company in 2007. Dr. Starke and his team at CEC is active in numerous national and European research activities improving IBS coating processes.
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SC536 - Designing XUV and EUV Coatings
Sunday, 18 May
Instructor: Marcelo Ackermann, University of Twente
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Thin-film design allows us to develop prescribed thicknesses of specified materials to be deposited, in order to achieve the desired coating performance. However, the errors present in the deposition process must be carefully weighed in order to move the desired design successfully through production. Thin-film uniformity is a critical aspect of the error budget for most deposition processes. Care should be taken to properly place and characterize sources, design substrate rotation fixtures, design/install uniformity masks and properly account for non-planar substrates. Ideally, the intended application of a coating system would inform the initial design and process geometry, in order to minimize film nonuniformity and maximize production yields. This course will address key issues for the uniform deposition of evaporated optical coatings, including both theoretical and practical considerations: Assumptions in uniformity calculations Consistency and repeatability Line of sight and deviations Integration versus summation in thickness calculations Symmetry in sources, substrates, and motion Calculations of coating thickness Movement systems for substrates Single-axis rotation (planar, domed, pyramidal) Planetary rotation (planar or non-planar substrates, tilted planets) Translation system – linear and drum rotations Evaluation of uniformity Source characterization Mask design Errors in substrate motion, and the corresponding impact on system design and fabrication Intentional nonuniformity (graded or stepped films) Short Course Benefits:
This course should enable participants to determine the uniformity performance of a given system, compare different system configurations and design an optimal configuration for a given application.
Short Course Audience:
This course is intended for technical individuals familiar with thin-film deposition, particularly via evaporation processes. A basic familiarity with substrates, fixturing and coating chamber components is assumed. Calculations are based on coordinate geometry and standard formulas, with minimal use of advanced mathematics.
Instructor Biography:
James Oliver is founder and president of Vacuum Innovations. He has over 30 years of experience in optical coating design, processes and equipment. He spent over 20 years at the University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics working on fusion-laser coatings. He has focused on advanced thin-film uniformity modeling, high laser-damage threshold coatings and various specialty applications. Oliver has published numerous papers and taught courses on thin-film design, uniformity and laser damage.
